Arnold Schwarzenegger Gives Fan Battling Cancer a Christmas Surprise

Earlier this week, Reddit user courser turned to the Bodybuilding community to ask for help making her brother Todd’s Christmas wish come true. A few days later, Todd was busy chatting with his childhood hero: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“My brother has serious learning disabilities and autism, but fell in love with the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies as a young man and took him on as an idol … He was always lifting and exercising in his spare time, and even with his disability, was always incredibly fit and strong … until this spring, when he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme).”

After her brother’s diagnosis, she asked redditors for help getting in touch with Schwarzenegger’s team for a personalized picture:

“I want to see my brother’s face light up on his last Christmas morning, and an autograph from his idol is the best thing I can think of.”

The community rallied behind courser’s request.

After thousands of users upvoted the post to Reddit’s front page, Schwarzenegger saw Todd’s story and decided to give him something better than an autograph.

This morning, courser shared that Schwarzenegger not only sent Todd a personalized Christmas card, but also Skyped with him from Europe, telling Todd to look forward to a gift in the mail—and another call on Christmas day.